


An acid storm and an encounter

by OpMSound



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Acid storms from my imagination, Does this count as stalking? (Probably), Just 'supernatural creatures' till I decide to state which, M/M, Mecha-vampire, Unexpected Encounter, chance encounter, near starvation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-07-03 01:20:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15808425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OpMSound/pseuds/OpMSound
Summary: Jazz is out on a mission when he gets caught in a deadly storm and has an unexpected encounter that will change his life.Best summary I've probably ever done but it's still bad.





	1. Acid storm

**Author's Note:**

> To anyone who's waiting for the next chapter on 'Taken' (as unlikely as that is), it will get written and posted hopefully sooner rather than later I'm just having some difficulty putting my ideas into words so yea sorry for the wait...
> 
> On another note here's something I wrote from some inspiration that hit when I read another story, I have no idea if I'll write more so if anyone does want a continuation be sure to let me know.
> 
> Other than that enjoy this story and be sure to kudos and comment if you do, I really am thankful for all of them.

With barely a streak of black and white visible the lithe mech went from rock to rock as he inched his way closer to his goal in a little crevice now only a few breems distance away.  
  
He had been sent to the dead plains on Cybertron where nothing seemed alive and all you can see, in all directions, are metal shavings and rocks, nothing else. There were no mech animals or even the slightest breeze, everything was still, silent. They truly lived up to the name 'The dead plains'.  
  
He could hear nothing even with his highly tuned audials, that were better than most mechs or femmes, turned up to max but he has been doing this too long to be stupid enough to assume that just because he can't hear anything, it doesn't mean something isn't there.  
  
So he continues his slow approach, choosing a rock that gives a good view of the crevice without him being seen.  
  
As he reaches his goal he looks into the crevice, switching between different settings on his visor just in case it's not something easily seen with regular optics and after triple checking he confirms that there is nothing there and that the rumours amounted to nothing this time.  
  
After putting his visor back to normal settings and dialing his audio horns down he lets out a sigh. 5 orns of travel to get here over rumours that the 'cons were building some kind of device that could spell trouble for the Autobots right in the middle of this wasteland and there was nothing at all. It's not to say the 'cons aren't building such a thing somewhere but if they are it's not here.  
  
"This sucks. I coulda been at tha party fer the new transfers jammin' ta some beats with Blaster but instead am out here in the middle of nowhere."  
  
A loud crack in the distance had him tensing up and diving behind a rock nearby, still high on alert from his mission and he would be till he got back to Iacon.  
  
After waiting a breem, in case someone had been shooting at him or just coming in his direction, but hearing and sensing nothing he cautiously peeks over the rock and immediately started to curse his primus forsaken luck as he transformed and tore off back the way he came as fast as he could.  
  
For what made the sound was not any mech, femme or 'con but one of Cybertrons rare acid storms.  
  
Sure, there's plenty of acid rain but acid storms are far worse. The potency of the acid rain can easily tear a mech to pieces in under a breem and the flashes of electricity that crack and hit the ground with deafening booms can fry a mech in kliks if you're hit by one.  
  
What makes them so rare is that Cybertron doesn't have too much of an atmosphere which is required to make the rain that potent and the deadly electricity but occasionally enough can gather to create what is known as an acid storm.  
  
On the bright side not even 'cons are glitched in the processor enough to go out in this weather so chances are he won't get attacked. On the not so bright side the storm is getting closer and closer and he can't push his engine to go any faster than it is without possibly blowing something which means he needs to find cover and protection from the storm quickly in an area with almost nothing for miles in any direction.  
  
Great, ya've got yaself in a right jam haven't ya Jazz'  
  
He drove for what seemed like vorns but was, in reality, only a joor before he found a rock that had a kind of crevice with a decent sized overhang that just barely allows him to stand to his full height and that should protect him from the worst of the acid and electric strikes and just in time too as the storm is catching up with him and he can feel a few stray droplets hitting his alt mode and starting to eat through his armour making its way to his wires and internals.  
  
So with a final push of his engine he made a beeline for that rock and dived under it as soon as he could, transforming and collapsing on his back with his vents heaving, trying to cool his overheated frame from his excessive driving to get to some kind of safety.  
  
Once he regained a normal core temperature he sat leaning back against the rock as far from the edges of the overhang, and from the acid rain now pouring down heavily around him, as possible and began to inspect the injuries he got from the drops of acid that hit his frame and feels some relief when, as far as he can tell, all vital areas were spared and he has no serious injuries or problems.  
  
'Next I need ta do inventory.'  
  
And he began taking everything out of his subspace. Once that was done he went through it all to see what he's got; some trinkets he's collected or been given, a couple of blank datapads in case they were needed, a few devices that could aid him in getting around an enemy base, an assortment of explosives and weapons most of which are technically illegal, a small first aid kit with bare basics and a few cubes of energon.  
  
He repacks his subspace and once done lfts his helm to look out at the storm around him and curses under his breath at his luck and mutters to himself "Okay first problem, am in need of more energon than I've got, I have a gut feelin' this is goin' ta be a long one."  
  
As you see another fact about Acid storms, is that they can last for decaorns before eventually stopping or even slowing, which means he was stuck with only a few cubes and no way to get energon before he most likely starves "Not how I thought I was goin' ta offline, I was hopin' fer somethin' cooler like dyin' in an explosion, or durin' battle but starvin' ta death? That sucks. Maybe they'll put somethin' better on ma gravestone like 'Jazz, fought valiantly ta the end protectin' his comrades in battle' yea that sounds much better than 'Jazz, starved ta death 'cause of poor luck' "  
  
With nothing else he can really do he leans back more comfortably settling his servos at his sides ready to just watch the rain and flashes for awhile as he thinks of a solution or _something_ to help his situation when he feels his left servo touch something wet at his side and wondering what it could be he glances down at that side only to shoot forward onto his knees with another curse as the 'wetness' he felt was actually a, thankfully still small, pool of his own energon.  
  
"Some acid rain musta nicked an energon line before I got ta cover in time, ma first stroke of luck on this whole mission is that it wasn't a vital line otherwise this pool would be alot bigger, still need ta clamp or seal it though, easy enough patch ta do" muttering to himself so there was some kind of noise other than the rain or loud booms he pulled the small medkit from subspace and used his fingers to find the damaged line before using a small adhesive bandage over it and letting his own temperature seal it.  
  
With that done he resubspaced the kit and sat back down, now with a task to do "If I make it outta here Ratch' is goin' ta kill me fer this but it's goin' ta waste energon I don't have ta fix a minor injury if I don't." were his last words before he set to work rifling through his code to disable his self-repair systems to preserve what little energon he has.  
  
It didn't take long to do, for someone of his skill set it's as easy as flipping a switch. "Now what?" With nothing else to do and low on energy he decided to get some recharge and with little concern about someone finding him in this weather he managed to relax slightly, though not enough to prevent him holding the hilt of a hidden energy dagger as he powered down.  
  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
He woke to the smell and sound of acid rain and not just any acid rain but that of an acid storm, one of the worst and most severe of Cybertrons hazards and couldn't prevent a small smile from reaching his face at the news, afterall it has been quite awhile since the last one and it's only during these storms that he can relax and fully be himself.  
  
He gets to his pedes and after a quick breakfast heads straight outside and into the storm. Once outside he luxuriates in a full framed stretch and a deep invent, expelling it slowly after a few kliks. Once done with that he heads out on a walk enjoying the pelting of the acid rain on his frame as it leaves not even a scratch on his black and white form.  
  
He resides in what's known as Cybertrons 'dead plains' not a place one would usually live but it's far more peaceful for him than living in a city. There's also the bonus of not many mechs or femmes visiting as he's not one to socialise but unfortunately, there's still the ones who pass through or transports that go by, except in a storm which is why he's able to relax fully without the chance of seeing anyone.  
  
Or so he thought, as he soon finds out. About a joor into his walk he saw something far in the distance.  
  
Thanks to his enhanced senses he could clearly tell it was a mech even though he was a good half a joor walk away and out of curiosity, though expecting it to probably be the lifeless shell of some mech who was unfortunate enough to get caught in the storm out here, he headed in his direction.  
  
However, he could soon tell that it _wasn't_ a lifeless husk as he had originally thought as when he got closer the mech moved, seeming to wake from recharge and by their lack of surprise at waking up in the middle of a deadly storm he could only conclude that the mech had miraculously managed to find one of the very few places in the plains that could protect him from the storm before it reached him.  
  
He found a perch a ways away from the mechs shelter having decided to watch him out of curiosity of what the mech was planning to do in his situation either to survive it or escape it (Though the latter was almost impossible.)  
  
The mech must be planning to love through his predicament, or at least hoping to, and have some survival skills as he pulls out a cube of energon and drinks only half of the cube before resealing it and stashing it back into his subspace.  
  
For awhile the mech did nothing and just sat there against the rock, seeming to not know what to do or perhaps thinking about his situation or something else entirely but then something drifted to his audios from the direction of the mech and it took only a few kliks for him to realise that what he was hearing was _music_ and he couldn't help but feel some measure of confusion and surprise.  
  
Other mechs and femmes in his situation would be panicing or even praying seeing how little hope there is but he's playing _music_ like it's no big deal.  
  
Who is this mech? His curiously about who this mech is and what he's like grew as he watched the mech tap his pede and bob his head to the music.  
  
When he thought it couldn't get any more surreal another sound was added to the music and this time it took him longer to figure out what it was and he couldn't stop a feeling of pure awe when he did, for the mech was _singing_ , his voice was nothing short of beautiful and he found himself subconsciously leaning forward on his perch as the mech continued to sing.  
  
Before he realised it several joor had passed of him sitting and watching the mech sing. He noticed the time when the mech finally stopped and he felt like he was getting jolted out of a trance. He watched as the mech leaned more back against the rock and went into recharge.  
  
'Strange time to recharge. Perhaps he's preserving his energy so he doesn't need to consume too much of his limited energon?'  
  
Once he was sure the mech had gone to recharge he jumped down off his perch to land softly on his pedes and cautiously approached the mech.  
  
Once he was close enough to be in arms reach he crouched down and studied the mechs frame closely in case he had missed something because of his viewing angle. As he roved his gaze from pede to helm he noted that on the side facing away from him there was a damp area and with a quick whiff of the air he could tell it was energon.  
  
'Some of the acid must have landed on him before he got under this cover but It seems that luckily this strange mech managed to patch it up before it could cause him any problems.'  
  
He continued his examination of the mech finding nothing else that was hidden from his view but just as he was about to stand and leave the mech to go back home his gaze caught the mechs face and he paused, almost involuntarily, taking in the handsome features and cobalt blue visor and couldn't stop the words from slipping out in a quiet murmur "You are beautiful, like a thousand shimmering stars in the night sky."  
  
With that he stood and headed back home with one last fleeting glance back at the slumbering mech before he was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a lot of my updates on Taken, Prowl snaps, etc are delayed 'cause of a mix of deadlines and well...Xmas/New years and am still busy but I finally, after much nagging in my own head, managed to get the second chapter of this typed up and posted (Took me long enough.)
> 
> I hope whoever reads this enjoys it, thanks to all that have read, bookmarked and kudos the first chapter, love each one :)
> 
> Without further ado, enjoy.

He continued to watch and listen to the lithe mech, under the outcropping, from afar for a few orns, the storm still showing no signs of stopping or even calming slightly as the acid rain continued to pour and the lightning strikes continued to impact the ground with shattering booms of noise but as the time passed he noticed that the smaller mech had started to sing and talk to himself less and that the light in his visor was dimming more every orn, it was clear the mech was running on the bare minimum, probably to conserve whatever energon he has remaining.

It was on the 5th orn of his observing (stalking) that he saw the mech list to one side before shooting back straight and a frown steeled itself over his face as it happened several more times over the next few joors.

'He must be out of energon and running on nothing but fumes if this keeps up he will starve to death...'

His frown deepened at that thought and he watched as the mech tilted to one side once again, the light in his visor flickering out completely for a klik before it came back online even dimmer than before.

During the previous nights he had opted to return to his hidden home and return the next orn but this night he decided to stay and watch so he didn't miss anything that could potentially be disastrous for the lithe mech he had become so enraptured with so quickly.

Several more joors past and it was well into the night yet the small mech hadn't even attempted to recharge and was trying, and failing, to fight recharge and to stay awake.

'He's probably concerned about not waking up again if he recharges, a completely valid concern at the moment unfortunately.’'

Another joor slowly ticked by with the mech stubbornly refusing to recharge, far past his limit at this point, when all of a sudden the mechs visor flickered and grew dimmer and dimmer before the mech slid sideways and hit the ground with a 'thunk' his hand losing its grip on the dagger he had never put away but unlike any previous times the mech didn't jolt up, he didn't so much as twitch and he could hear the mechs systems sputtering and weakening from where he was perched watching, with his acute hearing.

"No..." 

Before he could fully register what he was doing he lurched to his pedes and ran to the mechs side in under a klik and knelt next to him using a basic scan and his advanced sensors to determine what he could of what was happening as accurately as he could and, to put it simply; the mech was only breems from dying of starvation and infection that had manifested in some of the acid burns he had gotten during his dash to safety.

He reached out a hand to the mechs shoulder and shook the smaller black and white trying to rouse him from stasis even a little.

"Come on, wake up, wake up! please!"

He shook harder as he got no reaction and felt his spark squeezing in his chest as though someone had a vice grip on it the longer the unresponsiveness continued.

"I don't want you to die yet come on, WAKE UP!"

He gave a particularly hard shove to the mechs shoulder and audibly vented in relief as the mechs visor came back online, extremely dim and flickering but it was better than nothing.

"...w-wh..?" the mechs voice was weak and filled with static but he could understand him because of his advanced hearing, thankfully.

"That's not important right now. You're dying, only a few breems left at most before you're spark gutters." He tried to speak as calmly as he could to avoid any chance of the mech panicking.

"D...dy..ying? N..no!"

"I'm afraid so but listen I can save you, if you want, but...there's only a very slim chance. Do you understand me?"

"Y-y..es.."

"Do you want me to save you? If it works your very existence will change and you'll most likely be damned for eternity."

The mech fell silent for several kliks and for a moment he panicked thinking the mech had finally died but then the mech managed a weak nod and equally weak reply that was accompanied by a small grin, the mech still managing to be somewhat positive in this situation.

"A..am...pr...b-bly...d-dam..ed...ei..her....w-w...wa..y...jus...t...d-d..o...it."

He smiled slightly at the mechs response before nodding firmly.

"Okay. I hope you survive I would love to get to know you better."

With that he leaned down toward the mech, his fangs extending as he bit down on the main energon line in the smaller mechs neck injecting a special type of serum that doubles as a nasty poison that causes alot of pain before death or for those few...change.

After removing his fangs he lays the mech on his back and straddles him pinning him to the ground as he counts down the kliks in his helm.

'3...2...1...'

As he hits one the mech below him stiffens to the point he seemed locked in place and his joints creaked ominously before the visor flashed on overly bright and almost white which was followed by the mech suddenly opening his mouth and releasing an audio shattering, agony filled scream into the storming air, his frame arching off the ground sharply before he started writhing and spasming under him, his pinning of the mech the only thing keeping him from hurting himself and moving too much in the confined space.

He felt the mechs frame rapidly heating up under his hands until it was burning, his abnormal frame the only thing stopping him from lurching away from the blistering heat.

The mech continued to writhe, scream and burn for several breems his small claws digging and curling into the metal filings under him before he went completely limp, silent and offline under him, dead for all intents and purposes but he held still, hoping and not even so much as venting as he gazed down at the mech looking for any sign at all that it worked.

It took about 30 kliks but he noticed what looked to be a slight twitching of one of the claws and he hurriedly put a hand on the mechs chassis and didn't make a sound afraid he had imagined it but no, after several more long kliks he felt it, a slow off kilter beat of a spark beneath his hand and he relaxed, releasing the vent he had been holding in the entire time.

"Thank Primus...it worked, the odds were so slim...near infinitesimal but thank Primus it worked."

He sat there for another breem collecting himself and waiting for his own spark to calm down after the whole ordeal. Once he was sure he had calmed down he climbed off of the other mech and bent down to pick him up, also retrieving the dagger in the process and stowing it away in his subspace.

Once he had a secure hold on the mech he left the small outcropping, protecting the mech from as much of the rain as possible with his own frame, the other mechs frame still nothing more than a regular mech on the outside and inside, though that wouldn’t be for much longer he mused, hoping that he wouldn’t regret what he had just done.

The first changes that were happening were on the inside and though he had survived the initial aspect of it, he was still in danger of the change not completing and dying anyway.

He ran to his small, modest home easily carrying the mech the whole way and upon reaching the hidden door, and inputting the complex code he entered, the door locking automatically behind him, and rushed to his rarely used berthroom laying the mech gently down on the surface before dragging a chair and moving it next to the berth sitting in it, prepared to watch the mech until he was sure he would survive.

Several joors passed by in silence, only his own thoughts occupying him, until the lithe mech started moaning in pain on the berth, though thankfully not screaming this time, and he reached a hand out and laid it on the mechs chassis muttering as many reassuring words as he could until the mech once again fell still and silent.

A few more joors past by with only the occasional groan coming from the unconscious mech. It was around this time that he noticed something happening to the mech and he stood to get a closer look. 

He saw that the mechs damages, from the storm and the period of starvation, were starting to heal up and repair themselves rapidly and he smiled to himself, any remaining tenseness evaporating from his frame as now he knew the mech more than likely would survive.

All that's left to do now is to wait for his frame to finish being altered and for him to wake up.

During this time he often found his thoughts straying to the mech resting in his berth and about how this mech had somehow got his unwavering attention when no other mech or femme ever had during his too long existence, without doing anything special other than being himself which, he supposed, was special in and of itself. 

He felt a draw to the lithe black and white mech that he couldn’t resist and, if all went well and the mech didn’t end up despising him when he finds out what exactly has happened to him, he was determined to get to know him better and see where it went from there.

However, it wasn't until nearly 2 more orns had passed that he picked up any hint that the mech was waking from his extended recharge but the moment his audios picked up the minute scraping emanating from the berthroom he was there and by the mechs side in less than a klik.

He watched the mech as his small claws twitched and his plating shifted slightly over his frame. A breem later the mechs visor flickered on, dim at first before gradually brightening until it cast a glow on the ceiling above him.

He waited another breem for the mech to fully escape the grips of unconsciousness before speaking in as soft a tone he could muster.

"How are you feeling?"

The mechs helm turned to look at him as he spoke, his hidden optics no doubt roving over his frame and examining him.

"Like I got ran over by a tankformer an' also like the best I've ever felt since I was a sparklin’ which is an interestin’ combination."

"Yes I would imagine so, what do you remember of how you got here?"

The mechs visor dimmed briefly, as the mech tried to figure out the answer, before several kliks later it snapped back to full brightness and he shot up into a sitting position.

"I...I was dyin', no energon left, I should be dead. How am I here?"

"Calm down I will explain that later but first you need to tell me what else do you remember?"

The mech stared at him for a moment before his visor dimmed once again as he tried to most likely put the fragmented pieces of what happened back together in his processor.

Nearly 2 long breems passed before the mechs visor brightened.

"I remember a voice...no it was ya voice I think tellin' me ya could save me but that doin' so would probably curse me if I survived...I remember ya sayin' there was only a slim chance it would work. Am guessin' since am not dead an' greyed that it worked?"

"Yes and I'll explain soon and answer the inevitable questions you will probably have but first it's about time I learn your name." He holds out his servo as he continues. "Mine is Prowl."

The mech stared at his hand for a moment before taking it and shaking it "M'names Jazz."

"Ya'll answer any question I have right?"

"Yes."

"I was in the middle of nowhere durin' a deadly storm, assumin' the explanation will cover how ya even could be out there in that..." he trailed off in silent question and at Prowls nod continued.

"How did ya know I was even out there an' know where I was mech?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly am not sure how this chapter went and for some reason couldn't resist ending it how I did... -snickers-
> 
> Please comment, kudos and bookmark if you enjoyed it and if you did please let me know I enjoy everything anyone ever comments on any of my stories :) thanks you.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter idea came to me after a comment on the previous chapter by canikostar99 so I thank you for that as it brought to my attention that I really hadn't gone through Jazzs POV of this whole thing, so I decided to make a chapter on it.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy it and thanks to everyone who has kudos, commented and bookmarked this story so far.
> 
> Now I think I need a disclaimer for something in here so, I do not own the music briefly shown in this chapter. Did I do it right? xd  
> (Sorry if anyone saw it before I fixed it, the format was screwed but I fixed it now so yea xd)
> 
> Now without further edu

Jazz wakes up to the storm still raging around him and decides to have some energon so he pulls out one of his rations, drinking only half of it, before resealing the cube and placing it back into his subspace.

Once done with that Jazz decide to check on the minor injury he managed to gain during his mad dash for cover when the storm first hit. He wants to make sure that the bandage hadn’t somehow loosed during the night but as he twists slightly to get a better look he feels a painful twinge and opts to run a diagnostic just in case he had somehow missed something the previous orn.

The diagnostic completed in roughly half a breem and as he looks at the results he finds himself cursing this mission and his seemingly never ending bad luck on it.

_‘This is just perfect, I’ve survived torture, hundreds of battles, broke in an’ out of ‘con bases alone without breakin’ a sweat, gone deep undercover several times an’ I might end up dead from starvation or this, truly an ironic an’ humorous situation you’ve found yaself in Jazz’_

Jazz stares at the diagnostic report and the warning now flashing on his HUD, ‘coolant contamination in energon’ for a couple more breems before releasing an ex-vent and sagging back against the rock.

Coolant contamination can hurt like the pit and cause problems in a cybertronians systems, if it gets too bad, as the contaminated energon is pumped and spread around the frame. Luckily, it’s not usually that hard a thing for a medic to treat so it almost never gets bad enough to cause those problems. Unfortunately, there’s no such medic anywhere near here and even if there was they couldn’t get to Jazz in this storm.

He’s hoping that the acid barely nicked the coolant line, just as it barely nicked the energon line, it will take longer for the contamination to spread that way. Either way as the contamination grows, the pain will steadily get worse, as the energon is pumped around his body and Jazz is not looking forward to it.

_‘At least I have a high pain tolerance, right?’_

Jazz spent the next several breems, honestly not sure what to do in his situation. He’s a very active and sociable mech and there is nothing for him to do and no one for him talk to in these dead lands.

Jazz then hears another loud boom in the distance as a deadly electric strike crashes into the ground and it makes him remember something from long ago when he was still a sparkling, new to the world.

He had been, like most sparklings, afraid of the loud resounding cracks that happen during storms and he remembered that his creators used to sing to him during these storms to calm him down and distract him from the noises outside.

That was one of his first experiences with music and since then music had always had a way of making him feel better in any situation no matter how down he may be. It’s why he decided to major in music at the academy when he was a youngling and then later became a musician and DJ.

He had loved his career as it never truly felt like a job, he enjoyed it too much. He was even about to get a break in the industry when the war broke out.

_‘Funny, never woulda thought I’d become a top special ops mech back then, I probably woulda laughed if anyone had said I would.’_

The reminder of a time long past, before the war, gave Jazz an idea to pass the time and fill in the silence, well aside from the pounding of the deadly rain and the crashes of the even deadlier electrical strikes.

Jazz opened up his personal music library and searched through the vast list until he found the perfect song that he felt fit his current predicament rather well.

It was a song from some far away planet he’s never heard of(and probably never will) but it’s a good song, with a good tune. It’s called ‘I will survive’

As the song began to play from his speakers Jazz started to tap his pede (on his uninjured side) and bob his helm to the music. It worked as music always does and he quickly felt his mood lift and brighten as the song played.

Soon Jazz decided to add his own voice to the music filling the air and sing along, joining in as the chorus began to play.

‘Oh no, not I, I will survive

Oh, as long as I know how to love, I know I’ll stay alive

I’ve got all my life to live

And I’ve got all my love to give and I’ll survive

I will survive’

Jazz sang through the song and continued to play music and sing as the joors went by in a blur.

He needed another ration eventually and soon pulled out the half full cube that he had drank from earlier at the start of the orn, finishing of the cube and placing the now empty container off to the side.

Before long Jazz settled down against the rock to head into recharge once again, in the hopes of preserving what little energon he has.

The following orn Jazz woke to the pain in his body and side having increased overnight. The coolant contamination explains the pain in his body, as it would have spread to more of his frame as he was recharging, and wasn’t unexpected. The sharper pain in his side was unexpected and shouldn’t have been there.

Jazz carefully shifted his frame and reached down to slowly peel away part of the bandage in order to see what the problem could be. Once he does get a glimpse of the problem he curses his luck on this mission once more as he spots a slight yellowly rust forming, that typically indicates an infection, in his acid burns.

Something must have found its way into the burns before he managed to seal it that caused the infection.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t have anything to get rid of the infection, only something that should, at the very least, slow down the infection and quickly pulls out his small first aid kit rooting around in it for the medicine and taking it before storing the med kit back in his subspace.

Deciding he needed a pick me up after more bad luck Jazz opts to go to his music library again and queues a few songs. Soon he’s singing again, to no one but himself, alone in a wasteland even as the acid storm continues to rage.

Jazz sings for a couple of joors before he gets a ping on his HUD that shows he’s in desperate need of some more energon and Jazz pulls out a fresh, full ration.

At first Jazz merely stares into the depths of the glowing energon knowing that he needed to drink the entire ration and lamenting the loss of his limited and precious fuel.

With the coolant contamination steadily getting worse and now with the addition of an infection, his frame needed more energon in order to function and prevent it from weakening sooner than it already was going to.

With a last sigh Jazz lifts the cube, downing the whole thing in a few gulps before placing the empty cube with the other.

_‘That leaves me with one cube left which I’ll needa drink in one go later, looks like am starvin’ sooner than I thought an’ with my current condition...oh mech am royally fragged’_

In a nearly vain effort to preserve as much energon as he could Jazz shut down and went into another quick recharge.

The next orn came quickly and Jazz drank the last of his rations, placing his final cube off to the side but even after drinking it he knew he was still low on energy and that his frame was already partially starved.

He was low enough on energy that he could only sing for about a joor before he opted to head into another recharge.

Over the rest of the orn Jazz had frequent short naps and with each waking he noticed the pain, infection and contamination were progressively worse each time and Jazz groaned to himself before he shut down for the rest of the night.

He woke once again to a blaring warning flashing on his HUD that read ‘warning: contamination at 85%’ Which meant that almost none of the energon remaining in his systems was clean.

Dismissing the warning from his HUD Jazz reached down and checked on his wounds to see the infected area was a much darker yellow, which wasn’t good.

_‘Not that I can do anythin’ ‘bout it’_

With a sigh Jazz sat back and instead of singing, as he’s come to do, he found himself reliving old memories. Ones of his Carrier and Sire, Ones from his time as a DJ, of friends both old and new.

As the orn went by Jazz noticed that his secondary systems such as his chronometre and non-vital systems not necessary to functioning were going off one by one until, by the end of the orn, most were offline.

The contamination and infection were speeding up the starvation process as his frame is under more stress much to his dismay.

Eventually, Jazz went into recharge, setting an alert to go off if any of his primary system started to fail during the night.

He was woken during the night, though closer to morning, by that alert getting set off and he was quick to run a diagnostic of his primary systems in order to discover the cause.

Jazz found out that although his energon pump wasn’t stopping it had slowed which, if he needed to move, would have made him sluggish and made it harder to focus as energon wasn’t pumped around his frame as fast as it was needed.

_‘Not the worst, surprisingly, it should slow any further contamination even but it’s only the start’_

With any of his primary systems failing, even if the risk was currently low, Jazz didn’t dare return to recharge for fear of falling into a stasis that he wouldn’t wake up from, so he decided to stay awake.

Jazz was more or less in a hopeless situation but he had one thing in his favor to avoid stasis. He had long ago altered his coding and systems to put off stasis for as long as he could, much to Ratchets constant annoyance.

_‘I wonder if anyone's really worried ‘bout me’_

As a generally friendly mech Jazz made friends with as many mechs and femmes as he could but with his profession he could never truly get close to anyone, special ops does that to mechs.

Through the orn he started to get more and more alerts of ‘imminent failures of primary systems’. Jazzs vision started to blur and his visor started to flicker as he started to see double. Soon his colour started to fade on the edges of his frame and his mind started to get hazy and fuzzy, making it harder to think and remember to stay awake.

Eventually, his frame started to tip to one side and his consciousness started to fade in and out until he was tipping every few breems. Jazz fought the inevitable for as long as he could but soon he couldn’t anymore and the world shifted as he fell on his side with a muted thud but just before he fully lost consciousness he had one last, fleeting thought.

_‘Am I really goin’ ta die like this?’_

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

Jazz drifted in a kind of limbo for a while, could have been vorns or just a few kliks, he wasn’t sure. Time didn’t seem to have any meaning here, wherever he was.

At some point he started to feel like something was tugging him, welcoming him, in a certain direction and trying to get him to go somewhere but he had a gut feeling he didn’t want to go there yet.

He soon felt like the tugging was getting stronger and when he finally thought that he would go to that unknown place he heard a voice, a distant one that he didn’t recognise.

“ … ake up!”

Jazz was perplexed by what the voice was saying.

_‘Huh wake up? Who is that?’_

“ … Wake up!”

Before he realised it Jazz unknowingly started moving closer to the unknown voice, getting farther away from whomever or whatever that tug was.

Jazz felt like he was surrounded by thick oil as he tried to get closer, struggling through it until he suddenly felt pain throughout his entire body and a face started to blurily come into view.The expression on the face being filled with worry but all he could choke out, when he managed to find his voice, was a raspy “W… wh..?”

"That's not important right now. You're dying, only a few breems left at most before you're spark gutters."

The strange mechs voice sounded panicked and in a rush but Jazz managed to figure out what the mech was saying after several kliks through his foggy processor.

"D… dy..ying? N..no!"

_‘I don’t want ta die yet!’_

"I'm afraid so but listen I can save you, if you want, but… there's only a very slim chance. Do you understand me?"

Jazz barely managed to force out a response as he feels his systems slowing and his frame started to feel numb.

"Y-y… es.."

"Do you want me to save you? If it works your very existence will change and you'll most likely be damned for eternity."

Jazz thought about it as well as he could in his current condition and with his murky processors before managing to come to a decision.

_‘What have I got ta lose anyway?’_

"A..am… pr… b-bly… d-dam..ed… ei..her….w-w… wa..y… jus… t… d-d..o… it."

Jazz saw the strange mech smile at his words and Jazz thought it had to have been the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. Jazz doesn’t get to voice this or anything else as he sees the mech lean down and his consciousness flees once more.

The next thing he knew, only shortly after, was searing pain throughout his entire body unlike anything he had ever felt before and then everything went black one last time.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jazz felt… different, strange as he started to wake up and escape the grips of unconsciousness.

He felt his claws start twitching at his side as he fought his way to full awareness, soon his visor flickered online and at first his vision is blurry before it starts to clear after roughly a breem and he finds himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling, strangely clearer than usual, he can see every little detail. Jazz choose to dismiss it for now wondering about more important things such as where he is and…

_‘Why am I not dead?’_

Jazz glances to the side as he hears a voice speaking to him.

"How are you feeling?"

 _'Alive’_ Jazz thinks wryly before answering out loud more seriously, examining the unknown mech as he does.

"Like I got ran over by a tankformer an' also like the best I've ever felt since I was a sparklin’ which is an interestin’ combination."

It really was strange. Jazz felt like everything was… stronger? Better? He wasn’t sure how to describe it.

"Yes I would imagine so, what do you remember of how you got here?"

Jazz went deep into thought trying to figure out the answer to that question when he couldn’t answer immediately. He remembered bits and pieces but it was all fragmented so he tried to describe what he did remember as best he could.

"I...I was dyin', no energon left, I should be dead. How am I here?"

He remembered that he should be dead but only just know did he remember it in any vividness.

"Calm down I will explain that later but first you need to tell me what else do you remember?"

"I remember a voice...no it was ya voice I think tellin' me ya could save me but that doin' so would probably curse me if I survived...I remember ya sayin' there was only a slim chance it would work. Am guessin' since am not dead an' greyed that it worked?"

Jazz was curious about that, he couldn’t think of any possible way he could have survived that ordeal without a medic.

"Yes and I'll explain soon and answer the inevitable questions you will probably have but first it's about time I learn your name."

Jazz watches as the mech held out his hand before deciding to take it.

“Mine is Prowl”

"M’names Jazz”

Jazz stared at the mech longer as he drops his servo back to his side.

"Ya'll answer any question I have right?"

“Yes”

"I was in the middle of nowhere durin' a deadly storm, assumin' the explanation will cover how ya even could be out there in that… " Jazz trails off and continues as Prowl nods, finally asking a question that has been bugging him since he woke up.

"How did ya know I was even out there an' know where I was mech?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has read this and please kudos and comment if you did I love each of them :)

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this and thanks for reading my story I know I'm still not a very good writer.


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